wordinista

Overindulged on red wine last night, and feeling... not too bad today, but pretty dehydrated.  I worked out, despite the fact I didn't feel like it, and am now having a bit of lunch before taking the girls down to the vet to have their stitches removed.  When I come back, I'm going to have to put the finishing touches on the group assignment, and type up my individual assignment, and then leave for class around 4:30 -- I'm leaving early, because I want to catch the professor and talk with him about the plagiarism issue I discovered.

I'm trying to keep a close eye on what's going on with Hurricane Katrina -- all we can really do is hope for the best, I guess.  *sigh*  I have seen a few people in various and sundry LJ's say something that gets under this bunnehs skin, in regards to natural disasters -- this hurricane in particular.  A fair number of people seem to be of the mind that the media is hyping up this storm and the damage it can do, for the sake of newsworthy hyperbole.

That.... sort of pissed me off.  People don't seem to fully understand or appreciate the strength of these storms.  We had Category 3 storms last year with Frances and Jeanne and the aftermath you saw on the news?  Didn't even begin to acurately represent the reality.  It's a year later, and people's houses are still uninhabitable.  A lot of people talk about the massive destruction caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and that was downgraded to a Category 4 right before it made landfall -- and it fucked Miami (and Homestead) up.  Yes, these winds are strong enough to pick up a household appliance or light vehicle.  Yes, the damage is going to be that bad.  Yes, boats do wind up on top of houses.  Yes, that stuff does really happen, and the damage is sometimes more than you can take in.  We traveled down to Hutchinson Island last year, after... one of the storms, I can't remember whether it was Jeanne or Frances, though I'm inclined to think it was Jeanne.  I'd never seen anything like it before in my life.  And that was a Category THREE storm.  In an area that makes an effort to prepare for hurricanes!

I understand that it's part and parcel of putting on a brave face and trying not to scare the people who have friends and family in the area, but suggesting that the devastation is media hyperbole trivializes the reality of the situation.  I, for one, am very worried about the storm, and where it's hitting.  I hope with all my heart that the damage is minimal, and that people do have homes to go back to, because there's nothing worse than the helplessness that comes with knowing there is absolutely nothing you can do in a situation like that.

*end rant*

EDIT: Okay, no trip to the vet today. I had to make an appointment for the stitch removal (which isn't what I'd been told to begin with), so I'm glad I called. Tomorrow morning they get them out. This is good, actually, since it gives me a little extra time to tidy up around here and start on my assignment.